Along came a..

..bread that distracted my attention from the experiment at hand. After looking at the 65 deg. C bread at Florence's Blog, I was mesmerised by its texture. I have always wanted to try out this water roux method but was not quite confident of getting the water roux starter right. Thanks to Florence, she put up the picture of the starter. Cleared my doubts about the starter. And thus, I present you this bread.





Basically, I used my Cucina mixer cum 'arm power' to knead the dough as I do not have a bread maker machine. I made some adjustments to the recipe as I do not have an electronic weighing scale. Initially, everything went well, the dough was smooth.. blah.. blah.. blah.. but it took like forever to get to the membrane stage. Alternating between the mixer and hand knead, it must have took me around an hour (maybe this will help me to tone up my flabby arms). Then came the scare; when I added the raisins, the dough no longer looked smooth and was abit sticky.

After 1st proving, the surface didn't look too good either, I mean not like my previous experience with Straight Dough method and Sponge Dough method. I roll the dough like swiss roll, put into the tin and waited for 2nd proving. It rised but not as tall as I expected. Too late to do anything now. Heck care, just chuck it into the oven and bake. Oops.. erm.. in my haste, I forgot about the egg wash. XD

Anyhow, the bread turned out to be soft and fluffy, I kept poking at it to ensure that it didn't lose its fluffiness. In fact, I did that again before I post this.

65 deg. C or Water Roux Raisin Loaf

For water roux starter : (1 part flour : 5 part water)
50g Bread flour
250ml Water

1) Mix flour and water till it is smooth in a steel bowl. Using double boil method, whisk the mixture constantly.

2) Keep stirring till you see streaks left by the whisk. Remove from heat and leave aside to cool to room temperature.

*Note : Refrigerate the leftover water roux starter and use within 3 days. Discard when the starter turned greyish.

**Note : I used double boil method as I was unsure of controlling direct heat.

For the main dough : (yields about 600g of dough before baking)
Ingredients
(A)
250g Bread flour
20g Sugar
1 tbsp Milk Powder
2 tsp Instant Yeast

(B)
80g Water Roux Starter
100ml Water

(C)
1 tbsp Corn Oil
1/4 tsp Salt

(D)
50g Raisin (soak in water to plump them up)

Method (Based on using Philip Cucina Mixer)

1) Mix (A) with spatula in the mixing bowl. Use dough hook for mixer. Turn on mixer (speed 1) and add in (B). Beat for about 5 mins at speed 3.

2) Rest the machine for 5 mins. Meantime, knead the dough by hand in the bowl (wear plastic gloves). Turn the machine (speed 3) on for about 3 minutes.

3) Rest machine again while you add corn oil. Use the spatula to incorporate most of the oil into the dough. Turn on the mixer (speed 3) and add salt. Beat for another 5 minutes.

4) Repeat step (2) until dough reaches membrane stage. Add in the raisins towards the end of kneading.

5) Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for first proving for about an hour. Meantime, grease the loaf tin. To check if first proving is complete, put some flour on your finger and press into the dough. The hole should hold its shape.

6) Take out the dough and transfer to a slightly floured surface. Roll into a rectangle shape and roll up like a swiss roll, place into the loaf tin.

7) Let it rise for another hour. Apply egg wash or milk (I forgot). Bake at 170 degrees C for 25 to 30 minutes.

I wouldn't say I have achieved 100% success for this bread. I am still unfamiliar with the dough texture. And I read on the net that the starter is best used after 24 hours, I used it straight after cooling down. Now, I need someone to finish up the bread real quick so I can use up the leftover starter. :p

それじゃ～～